Lithium-ion battery pioneer wins 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Goodenough has been awarded the prize for his work at Oxford University in the 1980s, when – along with Koichi Mizushima, Philip C Jones and Philip J Wiseman – he identified the cathode material that enabled development of the rechargeable lithium-ion battery.

He received the award jointly with Stanley Whittingham of the State University of New York at Binghamton and Akira Yoshino of Meijo University.

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Announcing the prize the Nobel Foundation said: “Through their work, they have created the right conditions for a wireless and fossil fuel-free society, and so brought the greatest benefit to humankind.”

Goodenough, who was born in 1922, identified and developed the critical materials that provided the high-energy density needed to power portable electronics, initiating the wireless revolution. Today, batteries incorporating his cathode materials are used worldwide for mobile phones, power tools, laptops, tablets and other wireless devices, as well as electric and hybrid vehicles.